Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! I return to with the beginning chapters of what's going to become something of an epic epistolary Degrassi-fic, thanks to seeing "High Fidelity" and being struck with Plot Bunnies that Would Not Die. Be warned that there are teeny tiny spoilers for "High Fidelity" here.

This is primarily a Paige and Toby friendship fic, because…let's face it, they'd make good friends. They have that same snarky sort of sense of humour. There will also be Palex, Toby? (I'm not giving all the secrets away in the author's notes!), and a bit of Ashley/Jimmy. There will be snark and reconciliations and friendships, a road-trip and a wedding, girlkissing and boykissing and girl-and-boy-kissing, and Toby might just get laid. Maybe. winks

So here is the first chapter. Read, review, and enjoy. Chapter two will be coming soon. (:

cheers,

elske

Niagara University School of Journalism

Dunleavy Hall

Niagara University, NY 14109

TOBY W. ISAACS

Personal Statement:

I could fill up this letter talking about the reasons I should be accepted to your programme of study – about all the experience I have working on the school newspaper, for example. Or I could go on about how much I want to be a journalist when I grow up, about being a little kid and watching Superman cartoons and thinking it would be so much better to work at the Daily Planet than to fight crime, even. But I know something more important than either of those things, to be honest. The one and only reason that I really should be accepted is that I, Toby W. Isaacs, have a story to tell.

And this is how it goes.

The funny thing about real-life is that it's hard to tell when stories start and stop. In television and books, it's easy. Everything is wrapped up in half an hour or a handful of pages. Real-life is a bit more difficult. But I guess every story has to start somewhere, and as far as I can tell, this one begins with a phone call.

About a week after school ended, I came home after an appointment with my shrink to find my almost-stepsister watching the news on TV. "Mom and Geoff went out for Chinese. They're bringing it back for dinner," Ashley said. And then she asked, "Hey, what happened to Brian?"

"It's been a sad year in Canadian television, and you missed all of it," I told her. "Canada Now went national and they aired the last new Red Green." Ashley'd spent the last year in England with her father and his husband. The funny thing is that I really missed her when she was gone. The house was quiet without her: playing her piano, breaking up with her boyfriends, watching PBS at three in the morning. I'd never admit it to her that I missed her, of course.

"Hmm. At least Ian's still here," she replied, looking back at her favourite newscaster on the TV. "You still like sweet and sour chicken, right? That's what I told Geoff when he asked what you wanted. I'll do the dishes if you set the table?"

"That's a horrible deal," I protested. "There aren't dishes with Chinese, everyone just eats out of the paper cartons." But I went to go set the table anyway; if nothing else, she'd have water-glasses and silverware to wash.

"Thanks Tobes. Oh, and Jimmy's coming, so set a place for him too?"

"Yeah, yeah." I was busy setting out the silverware when the phone rang. Ash answered it, said "Oh, hi mom," and managed to only sound a little bit disappointed. I knew she was waiting for her boyfriend to call; they'd been joined at the hip ever since she came home from England and they got back together. It was slightly surreal, like stepping into a time-warp four years into the past. Ashley and Jimmy were dating when my father and I first moved to Toronto. It was like getting a really awesome stepbrother to go along with my insufferable stepsister. I think I was more upset than Ash was when they broke up.

"That was mom," she said, hanging up the phone. "She's running late, but they're on their way to get the food, and them home. And she says she has good news for us, or something. God, I'm starving." Ash disappeared into the pantry, emerged with a granola bar. "Hey, want half?"

I hadn't eaten since breakfast, but I shook my head. "It's almost dinner," I explained. So Ashley went back to the living room and switched the TV to some French guy being interviewed on Charlie Rose and I continued setting the table.

Not five minutes later, the phone rang again. This time when Ashley answered it, she started laughing. "Toby, it's for you," she said, tossing the cordless phone in my direction.

My first thought was that it was probably that army recruiter again, because the only person who ever called was JT, and he stopped cracking jokes on the phone months ago. I managed to catch the phone, said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Toby? It's me, um, Paige?"

I recognised her voice right away, of course. And I was dumbfounded to hear it. This was Paige Michaelchuck, phoning me. Allow me to explain – Paige was always the most popular girl at our school, Degrassi. She's beautiful and smart and, in one word, amazing. Paige made surviving date-rape and standing up against your attackers cool. When Paige fell in love with a girl she made homosexuality cool, not that it was that difficult, but still, Paige did it. This girl's invincible. She had no business phoning up me, Toby Isaacs, someone so invisible that I didn't even register on the social strata. I'm a class A geek: glasses and computer programming and anime, the school newspaper and a four-point-two average, the freaking chess club and everything. Paige, calling me, was unthinkable. "Um. Hi Paige," I stammered.

And she laughed. "Hon, you seem surprised," she said. "Did you or did you not tell me to call you?"

I felt myself blushing. Yeah, I had told her that, in a routine sort of pick-up-line kind of way. "I, yeah, but…you know…I never expected that'd be the day you started paying attention!" I said. Maybe that was a little unfair, because she sounded almost hurt.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm sorry, it's just…between what happened with Alex and what happened with Spin and Hazel going on vacation, everyone's either busy or hating me and I figured…I dunno. Sorry to have bothered you, hun."

"Wait," I said, a bit too strongly, because Paige started laughing again. "You're not bothering me. I was just surprised."

"You always seemed nice," she said. "And you told me to call. So." It was the first time I'd ever heard her sound so awkward. "Did you want to go to the movies or get coffee or something? Not having friends gets dull fast."

I was something of an expert on that feeling. But I wasn't about to tell her that. "I can't right now. Dinner with my parents. We're having Chinese, you can come if you want?" You always get huge portions from the Mandarin Buffet, even in take out, so I knew there'd be enough to share. "Jimmy's going to be here, too."

There was a long silence on the line, and then Paige sighed. "How about after dinner? I'll come pick you up. We'll go get coffee. Not from the Dot."

"Sure! That'd be great!" I must have sounded too enthusiastic, because she laughed again.

"Later, hun," she said before hanging up the phone.

"Tobes? Was that Paige?" asked Ashley, who'd apparently decided that eavesdropping was more interesting than public television.

"Yeah," I admitted, putting down the phone so I could fold the fifth napkin for the table.

"You're friends now?"

"Maybe." I shrugged. "You did miss a lot, last year," I told her with a grin. And then the doorbell rang, and luckily I was saved from any more scrutiny on her part.

Dad and Kate were home with Chinese food and the promised great news.

Said great news became rapidly less enigmatic at the sight of Kate's new engagement ring.